When two local bartenders who plied their craft mixing drinks at elevated local craft cocktail and coffee spots, including The Mercury Room, The Campground, and Monarch Coffee, decide to open a casual neighborhood cocktail bar, you get the best of both worlds—creative, yet approachable, cocktails without the pretense or fuss.
That’s the point of Varsity Club, a cool cocktail bar on Delaware Street in the River Market, owned by the bartending brothers Levi and Caleb Royce. You’ll find the bar in the basement of 319 Delaware Street, where the entrance is accessible at the back of the building. There’s a bustling outdoor patio and Darren Carter and Matt Chapman’s Disco Burger food truck, serving one of the best burgers in the city and delicious Disco dogs.
If Varsity Club sounds sporty, it’s intended to be a bit tongue-in-cheek. However, the brothers do plan to show Premier League games with hopes of drawing crowds coming to Kansas City for the 2026 FIFA World Cup games.
Inside there is a tiered seating area, where cream-colored banquettes and midcentury-modern chairs and tables sit against the warm-wood accents and gray rock walls. Follow the floor as it gently slopes down to the additional seating in the bar area. It’s decorated with preppy dark-green tiles and a pretty pink-and-white marble bar. The space has personality—it’s equal parts funky and fun.
When the weather is nice, it’s hard to resist sitting on the patio, where the scent of smash burgers and fries emanating from Disco Burger will have you scanning the QR code to place your order ASAP while you claim your favorite picnic table.
The crowd Varsity Club attracts is a vibrant mix of locals living or working in the neighborhood and tourists who ride the streetcar to the River Market. The bar welcomes everyone in such a low-key and casual way that it makes anyone who walks through the door instantly feel like a friend.
Painted on the back wall is the list of cocktails served at Varsity Club. In addition to a handful of beers and wine that comes in red, white, orange, and bubbles, there are six classic cocktails (think old fashioned, negroni, margarita, etc.), six tasty shots (lemon drop, green tea etc.), and six house drinks, including the Buckwild cocktail—a popular choice for tequila and mezcal lovers.
Created by Levi Royce, the Buckwild cocktail features a rich, dark-purple açai syrup and pear nectar punched up with citric acid to balance the tequila and smokey mezcal. The resulting drink is the perfect send up to spring and the warmer days that lie ahead. Cheers!
Buckwild
- .75 ounce tequila
- .75 ounce mezcal
- 1 ounce açai syrup*
- .75 ounce acidulated pear**
Combine all ingredients in a metal cocktail shaker, give it a good shake, then double strain the cocktail through the shaker strainer and again through a small wire strainer into a rocks glass filled with ice and rimmed with black lava salt.
*Acai Syrup Recipe
- 180 grams gomme arabic (a natural thickener made from gum arabic, a tree resin.)
- 1500 grams white sugar
- 3000 grams fruitful açai liqueur
Blend sugar and gomme together and add the açai and blend until it dissolves and makes a rich açai syrup.
**Acidulated Pear Recipe
- 1500 grams pear nectar
- 6% citric acid
Blend ingredients together until dissolved.